Highly regarded singer-songwriter Kieran Leonard is all set to return with the release of his brand new single ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ on 25th December 2015 via 1-2-3-4 Records. The single, a protest song, is almost 15 minutes long and as Leonard explains, “It began as an improvised idea and the whole 15 minute track was recorded in one complete take, totally live. It was a stream of conscious explosion, a sort of cardiac truth attack.”
Kieran Leonard’s epic record follows in the footsteps of artists such as Led Zeppelin’s ‘In My Time of Dying’ which comes in at 11mins 6 secs, The Velvet Underground whose 1968 single ‘Sister Ray’ was nearly 18 minutes’ long (17:27), and of course the Genesis track ‘Supper’s Ready’ from 1974’s Relayer album which is based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace and runs for 21mins 55secs. Don’t confuse this Kieran Leonard with budding musician Kiran Leonard who has recently released a 16 minute long single!
The Irish born, US raised and London based musician has been hailed as “the musical bastard love-child of Beckett, Orwell and Ted Hughes,” and his new single showcases perfectly his poetic lyricism and talent for biting social commentary. The track tackles gritty subjects and Leonard isn’t afraid to give his 10 pence worth: on world resources he speaks of “a sort of strange blender of turbo consumerism…slicing through every bit of meaning” and on social media he gets particularly exasperated, “Do you want to hang out? No! Do you want to take some photographs instead? Yeah!”
Leonard’s journey has already seen him share the stage with the likes of Bob Dylan, to whom he has been compared vocally, The Strokes and Beck, as well as a US tour with Wolfmother and UK and European tours with The Libertines, Ryan Adams and Father John Misty. His debut album ‘Out of Work Astronaut’ was voted one of the BBC’s Albums of the Year in 2012. This autumn, Leonard took his live show into the churches of London, most recently St John’s in Hoxton and St Martin-in-the-Field.
‘Greatest Show on Earth’ is set to be released on Christmas Day via a digital download and limited edition Cassette.
Check out the video for Greatest Show on Earth, recorded at iconic film director Stanley Kubrick’s estate, here:
For more on Kieran Leonard check out his Website – Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Youtube
